


Keeping Warm

by Jenalop3



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 15:52:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4966990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenalop3/pseuds/Jenalop3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How the Black Widow keeps warm after a freezing HYDRA raid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeping Warm

**Author's Note:**

> After about 13 years of being absent from fan fiction I return with offerings. Please be gentle on my poor little soul, I am very rusty (I wasn't to good to begin with, but that is a moot point). This little guy was written in response to HulkwidowNet weekly BruceNat prompts for October. This wasn't my original submission, but that guy was running way to long and I needed to get something out before the weekend. I will try to shoehorn that guy in somehow for another prompt.
> 
> Any way I hope you enjoy, and thank you for reading.

She was going soft, thought Natasha, as she shivered in an ankle deep snow drift. She could remember a time not to long ago, where even the frigid Russian winter hardly bothered her. Now here she stood, the slate gray sky overhead, flakes drifting down from on high to fall in her hair, frozen fingers clenched together. The heavy boughs of pine trees drooping precariously overhead, the heavy crunch of falling snow echoing through the trees.

Another shiver ran through her, from the top of her head to her toes. The specially made, Uniforms she and most of the team wore were things of genius. Developed in one of Stark Industries fringe assets, the were tough, as strong as Kevlar but offered more maneuverability. They were also thermal insulated, keeping the body temperature comfortable. At least when the wearer wasn't in a climate pushing single digits. She brought her hand up to her red nose, and tried to breath some warmth back into them. She was cold, she was tired, her hair was getting wet, and she wanted to go home.

She wasn't the only one, The Avengers themselves stood in a loose circle outside a bunker door that led down to a now defunct HYDRA base. And like Natasha herself, the team was bleeding, dirty, cold and dog tired. They staggered on their feet, weaving for balance like drunks. She was actually pretty sure Tony had locked the legs and back to his suit and had fallen asleep standing up. If his tilted back head, slack arms, and soft snores over the still live com were anything to go by, he was out cold. Even Thor's boundless energy seemed drained this evening. The cold never really bothered the Thunder God, still he sagged tiredly against the last standing cinder block wall of the bunker. He even let Mjölnir slip free from his fingers to thud heavily into the kicked up snow. Clint had rested his back side on the handle of Mjölnir, shifting from ass-cheek to ass-cheek, ( Natasha couldn't imagine that could be comfortable) hunching over and burrowing his nose in his crossed arms. Steve stood stock still with his fingers pressing the com further to his ear in some desperate attempt to will the SHIELD bureaucrats to give him the green light to return to heat of the Quinjet. The City Boy could stand the cold, New York managed to get pretty chilly in the winter, but nature wasn't his best friend.

The Hulk looked to be the only Avenger not succumbing to exhaustion. He sat off to the side, snow leaking into his stark tech Jammers, intent on the snow itself. He was content to sit there, running trenches with his fingers, letting the snow tumble from one hand to another, building up little snow forts and knocking them down. Steam floated out from him with each exhale, making him appear like a great green smoke stack.

He seemed to like the snow. When the Code Green had been called, he had fallen from the sky like a meteor, to land in a surprised spray of snow and dirt. He looked to have forgotten the HYDRA agents who had surrounded him, an expression like joy had started to smooth out his craggy face as he dug his bare toes into the cold drifts. Of course that didn't last long, some HYDRA agent thought it a good idea to pelt the Hulk with gun fire.

That didn't work out to well for him.

A third violent shudder ran through Natasha, this one making her very bones quake. She stomped her feet in a small circle clapping her hands to her bicep and tucking her chin into her collar.

“Cold?” The voice was deep and sounded like far off thunder. The Hulk had abandoned his little snow pile to turn his attention to her and her shivering. He had cocked his head, messy salt and pepper curls tangled with snow flopping to the side. His great simian like brows drew together to form a deep canyon between his eyes.

It was still a bit of a surprise to her when the Hulk talked. She was to used to his enraged bellows to remember he could hold a conversation, if he wanted to. A simple conversation and one that would hold his interest. Many times Tony would talk to him as if he had the capacity for conversation that Bruce had. The Hulk liked to be talked to as a person, but there were only so many multi-syllable words he could take in a single sentence before he got fed up and wandered off.

“I’ll be ok, just as soon as I get to a heater.” She smiled reassuringly at him stuffing her stiff fingers into her armpits.

He huffed again, a giant cloud of mist rising up from his mouth to hang in the bitter air. Using his knuckles, he shifted himself a tad closer to where Natasha stood. Then clapping his hands together, he rubbed them vigorously knocking off any remaining snow and dirt. Very gently and very slowly, like she was a nervous creature, he reached out a hand and laid it across her shoulders. His hand was so enormous that her slim shoulders fit snugly in the space spanning from his forefinger to his thumb. His fingers curled gently down her bicep to almost her hip, his palm gently cupping her back. He had calluses on his palm and pads of his fingers, but the skin in between was soft. The back of his giant hand was dusted in fine dark hair, even stretched and green Bruce couldn't escape his mess of hair.

She was surprised for a moment, before sagging into is hand.

Goodness, was he warm.

It made sense, the guy was practically a walking reactor. All that energy cooked up when transforming had to be burned off somehow. She supposed most of it was exhausted on his rampages, but when he wasn't doing much of anything it needed to escape somehow. Right now she was thankful for it.

“Thanks, Big Guy.” She tugged at his thumb, and he easily lifted his hand from her shoulders. She moved, pushing and pulling his arm until she was tucked neatly into his side. She leaned into his heated green skin, warming her extremities almost immediately. She swiped at her red, cold nose, before pressing a quick soft kiss to his bicep. He smelled like snow, pine sap, adrenaline, and a slight tangy smell that reminded her of Bruce's labs.

“Spider-Lady warm?” She felt him ask more then she heard him.

“Yes.” She nuzzled further into his side.

He grunted in satisfaction, and went back to running his opposite hand through the snow.

 

 

~*~

 

“AHHHH-CHOOO” the sneezed exploded out of Bruce, surprising him from his work. He quickly patted around for a tissue as he felt another sneeze work its way up. Looking about the lab, with the tissue pressed firmly to his nose, he found that he was cold.

“JARBIS?” He called thickly through the tissue over the soft music.

“Yes, Doctor Banner?” Came the reply from the omnipresent AI.

“Do you thdink we could durn up da heat a bit?” He asked as a violent shudder ran up his spine.

“Of course, Doctor.” And Bruce immediately felt the heat blow from an above duct.

He was about to return back to his work, when he felt a slim pair of arm encircle his waist. The man who housed the Hulk, nearly leaped out of his skin in surprise, giving a little shout.

“Easy there, Doc. It's just me.” He felt Natasha’s warm breath leak through his thin lab coat and into his shoulder.

“Whatd are you doing!?" He tried to turn and face her, but she merely moved with him, tightening her arms.

“Returning the favor, Doc.” He felt her press her nose into his back. “Tit for Tat, you kept me warm so I will do the same for you. "

“Bub JARBIS justd durned on da heatd?" He questioned, a blush working its way up his neck to cover his ears. He didn't exactly know what she was talking about. He remembered a bit from their last mission. He remembered the snow, he managed to catch a cold from it. He shot a glare at the trash bin filled with used tissues.

“I like this better.” Her fingers griped at his purple flannel shirt.

“Oday?"He said, nose still stuffed, a bit unsure about what she was talking about.

But she was warm and felt nice at his back, and he found that he no longer had amy desire to work. He had no idea what to do with the situation he found himself in, when his stomach made up his mind for him. Gurgling loudly in protest of the lack of food that had been consumed that day.

“Dow aboutd we go ged someding warm to eatd? I don'td dink I ade doday?” His blush moved from his ears to his cheeks. He griped her hand that lay just under his 6th rib, rubbing small cautious circles into her knuckles.

“The sounds nice.” She released him, but not his hand. “I'll make us some grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.” She tugged him out the lab doors and up to the kitchen.

Bruce kept close to her side, she was warm.


End file.
